With an insane number of Champion types to pick from, along with the nearly 150 champions in total that you can play as, there are just too many to shift through for a new player that just wants to find something to help them play the game. I want to remedy this with this huge guide to help you learn what to expect from each champion type.

The Tank/Hyper Tank

One of the easier roles to play as your job is to build up resistance items to make sure you take very little damage and then just sit on their damage dealer unloading all the CC you have into them. This allows your team to kill them quickly without the carry having the chance to escape or deal too much damage to your team in a fight. I list Tank and Hyper Tank as different because a Tank can still do some damage, much like Volibear or Skarner, but a Hyper Tank does nearly no damage yet takes no damage like Ornn or Mundo. These Champs often have a lot of abilities to start fights with such as Maokai's Twisted Advance (W).

Ornn

Ornn... The literal wall of resistances. As Ornn, your goal is to farm quietly top lane until you get to late in the game at which point you use your Volcanic Rupture (Q) to send a fissure at your enemies and create a solid pillar of lava that you can Searing Charge (E) into to knock everyone up. They aren't even safe up above, as you now breathe on them with Bellows Breath (W) only to smack them across the nose with a hammer to kill. If you don't want to all-in with your face leading the charge, then simply press R and then when the Forge God gets close, smash that R button again and send him charging the direction of your enemies to basically use Q W and E all at once. My favorite part about Ornn, other than the fact that he is meant to be a hypertank and yet still manages to outdamage you, is that he is a living forge. In the lane, you can run away from the minions and enemies and sit under tower crafting new items from the store as long as you have the gold. The Gods say you can't grant yourself eternal life though, so no crafting consumables. The broken part is you can upgrade everyone's items to become stronger than they normally are with increased damage and other effects.

TLDR: Ornn has high CC and can boost team damage all while being a grumpy rock looking goat that likes to breathe fire and beat things with hammers.

Juggernaut

Juggernauts are low mobility high damage and sustain champions. Your job is to stand in a large group of enemies and sustain through damaging them with your abilities, allowing you to easily beat multiple people at the same. The reason these champions aren't completely broken compared to the rest is that, as I said before, they have almost no mobility, so escape is fairly easy if you have any form of CC. These champions however also have (for the most part) a slow and an engage, to keep champs near them, but all it takes is one stun and maybe a summoner spell to get away. Juggernauts shouldn't be taken lightly though. If allowed to ramp up, they can and will easily 1v3 and get out clean most of the time, so they are still a threat to be reckoned with.

Darius

Darius is the commander of the Noxian Legions, and as such he should very well be feared. Well known as a 'noob killer,' in that he is hard to play against if you don't understand how he works. What sets Darius apart from other champions is that, on every ability and basic attack he hits, the champion hit will gain a stack of Hemorrhage, dealing physical damage over 5 seconds for each stack, up to 5. Once he gets 5 stacks on an enemy champion, he gains Noxian Might granting him a huge amount of damage as well as applying 5 stacks instantly to anything he hits until Noxian Might runs out.

It's this passive ability that makes Darius infuriating to play against as one second you are winning the fight, and the next you are dead on the ground. Darius sustains himself in battle through Decimate (Q). Darius swings his ax in a circle around him after .75 seconds, healing off every champion hit with the ax's blade while doing only 35% if hit with the handle. Crippling Strike (W) slows the target for 90% while also being an auto-attack reset (if you hit an auto-attack and you see the damage go through you can press this and almost immediately basic attack again instead of waiting for the wind up again.) He also can Apprehend (E) enemies, pulling them close and slowing them with his ax. The best part about Darius is his Noxian Guillotine (R). The ability does true damage that depends on how many stacks of Hemorrhage the target has, and at max rank, a kill resets the cooldown and refunds the mana cost.

Usually, the best combo for extended fights (what Darius excels at) is getting close to your Q range and if they walk at you after the Q, you basic attack, W, basic attack, and at this point if they try to walk away press E and keep them close to hit 5 stacks of Hemorrhage which point just keep basic attacking until cooldowns are back up or ult if you think you can kill. Try to keep fights going as long as safely possible, because your one weakness other than CC is short quick fights, as you deal the most damage once you hit those 5 stacks of Hemorrhage and will just about win every fight before level 4 because of this.

TLDR: I take time to get going, but once I hit 5 stacks of Hemorrhage it's very hard to fight let alone kill me with how much sustain and damage I have

Bruisers/Fighters/Duelists

I tend to group Bruisers and Fighters together as they do nearly identical things with the slight difference of Bruisers have more health and resistances built than Fighters who build more damage, yet a champion can be both. It all matters how you build them that determines if a Champion is a Bruiser or a Fighter. I also added Duelists as they have high mobility like the aforementioned typings, except they focus heavily on damage and life steal while having the trade-off of only being able to do single target damage. In the current meta for North America, I see a lot of Bruisers being played as well as Duelists or Fighters being played top lane with tanks being left to the support most of the time, but we will get into that more when we reach the support class of champions.

Lee Sin

Lee Sin is a little complicated to play, but overall it's not that hard. Basically just interlay a basic attack on the enemy champion between abilities because your Flurry (Passive) gives you attack speed and energy for doing so. The easiest way to engage is with your Sonic Wave (Q), as you can recast it to dash at whatever your Q hits to deal more. Your Safeguard can be used on yourself to gain a small shield or you can use it to jump to an ally champion to give both you and them a shield. It can also be used to jump to ally minions and wards, allowing for a lot of maneuverability although you don't get a shield from doing that. Recasting your W gives you Iron Will, which gives you life steal and spell vamp.

Your Tempest (E) is a great ability to use right after dashing with your Q as it's an easy AoE attack with the recast ability being slow making it harder for the enemy to run. Lastly, you can do a move called the Insec in which you either ward hop behind an enemy champion or Q to them and Flash behind them and use your Dragon Rage (R) to kick them into your team to kill. Most of the time your engage relies on hitting that first Q, so practice hitting it so you can get it nearly every time and you will be off to a great start playing Lee Sin.

TLDR: I like to kick people into oblivion

Assassins

Assassins are just what you think. Champions with small health bars but gigantic damage that build almost solely armor penetration items and occasionally lifestyle or crit. These champions usually have a form of invisibility as well as an easy form of engagement to get on top of a champion from a distance, the only thing they are lacking in is a bit of mobility and almost always hard CC. Assassins, for the most part, build AD and are AD but there are a handful of AP assassins that do the same thing as their AD counterparts except with AP damage.

Talon

Talon is the stereotypical Assasin you think of from a Dungeons and Dragons game. He makes enemies bleed by hitting an enemy champ three times with his abilities and a basic attack at the end to trigger it. In lane, you usually harass with your Rake (W) that throws out daggers that then come back to Talon dealing damage, at this point if it hits on the way out and back, you can use your Noxian Diplomacy (Q) to jump at the target dealing damage and applying the 3rd stack at which point you should basic attack to trigger the bleed effect. If this fight is pre-level 6, you can back off for now or use the summoner spell Ignite if you think you can kill.

If this is at level 6 or beyond, just hit them with part of your W and Q them from a distance to do the dash, while in the air use Shadow Assault (R) to launch blades in a circle and make you invisible, but because you are flying at your enemy you will hit them right after you cast Shadow Assault making the blades converge back onto the enemy, dealing a lot of damage. After this basic attack to trigger stacks and then Q close range to do bonus damage (close range Q does more damage but doesn't have the gap closer) and keep going until they are eventually dead. You don't use you Assassin's Path much except for trying to escape fights or find a new way to get into a fight, as it allows you to dash over walls with each area of the wall having its own cooldown. You got a throwing dagger, bleed, stab move, and invisibility; now go be an Assasin as Talon is very easy to pick up and play.

TLDR: I'm an edgy stereotypical assassin

Rengar

Rengar is pretty simple like Talon. There are just a lot of combos you can do that I will get into in a guide dedicated just to Rengar. Firstly, Rengar's passive, Unseen Predator, allows him to jump from bushes to attack enemies at an increased range as well as gaining 1 ferocity if you are at 0. The passive also allows you to build Ferocity to empower your Q, W, and E abilities with special effects and extra damage. To do this, just use your abilities 4 times to reach max stacks and use your Empowered version of 1 ability before having to get another 4 stacks. You also start with a Bonetooth Necklace as a passive quest that increases your damage based off of unique champion kills. Your Savagery (Q) is fairly straight forward, the next two attacks have increased attack speed as well as bonus physical damage.

The empowered version is exactly the same except with more attack speed and bonus damage. Your Battle Roar (W) allows you to heal for half the damage taken in the last 1.5 seconds as well as damaging enemies around you. The empowered version cleanses (removes CC) Rengar and deals more damage than the normal version. Your Bola Strike (E) throws a Bola in a straight line slowing the first thing hit dealing damage. The empowered version does more damage as well as roots the target instead of slowing. The ultimate ability Thrill of the Hunt turns Rengar invisible and while you have your R going press Q to get bonus damage off because you jump at your target with a basic attack like out of a bush doing an ungodly amount of damage. Bad Kitty, stop killing everyone, please.

TLDR: The ADC is no longer allowed life

Control Mage

Control Mages are one of my favorite classes because it is just so satisfying to hit your full combo and watch as the enemy team struggles to stop you. Control Mages 'control' large areas through CC and AoE spells. The excel at starting fights or creating opportunities to catch someone out. One of the prime examples of a Control Mage is Lissandra.

Lissandra

Lissandra can be played both Top lane and Mid as well as off-meta support. Her ability to harass with Ice Shard (Q) through minions early in the game doing bonus damage and has a larger area of effect when it shatters on the first target hit; this makes for a strong early game. Mid/Late game she can engage using her Glacial Path (E) that shoots a moving ice claw that can be recast to blink to its location. After that, you can use Ring of Frost (W) to root everyone around you, then if you think they can escape still; use your Frozen Tomb (R) to stun the enemy as well as creating a large AoE of ice around the target that slows and does damage while in it. If you yourself aren't going to survive the engage, you can cast Frozen Tomb (R) on yourself instead to heal and stasis yourself to survive longer for your team to help out. If, during a fight, you get a kill or assist, your passive Iceborn Subjugation creates an ice spirit where the champion died that chases and slows nearby enemy champions then explodes dealing damage after 4 seconds creating a chain effect if it continues to kill things.

TLDR: I throw myself into a fight to hold enemies down and then escape when things get too scary.

Burst Mage

I don't need to say much more than this is an AP mage that uses their abilities to kill one target almost instantly. Much like an assassin, just with less mobility and more CC.

Veigar

Veigar is a creator of evil and suffering, stuffed into a body the size of a walnut. In the current meta, Veigar is not only very easy to play but is one of the strongest mages overall because of a recent item build found that removes the issue of having to take time to scale by buying a Luden's Echo and then a Rabadon's Deathcap. If you ever worried about not doing enough damage, Veigar's passive Phenomenal Evil Power removes that worry from existence. The passive gives you one AP every time your ability hits a champion and five AP whenever you get a takedown; this allows for infinite scaling and normally you will reach above 1000 AP in a game because of this. Your Baleful Strike (Q) is a good tool to harass the laner with to build stacks as it is a direction ability that can hit two targets going through the first. It also adds a stack to your passive if it kills a minion (doubled on siege minions). Your Dark Matter (W) is best comboed with your Event Horizon (E) as if you can place your Event Horizon's edge behind the enemy champion they get stunned allowing for you to easily cast Dark Matter for massive damage. Lastly, if you can't kill with E-W-Q, you can always throw a Primordial Burst (R) at them that not only has 75% damage scaling with your AP, it also increases damage based on enemy missing health (maxed out at 33% left).

TLDR: I hate this one enemy champion specifically and you will die every chance I get because of it and there literally nothing you can do to stop me.

ADC/Marksmen

The Marksmen is a champion (usually AD) that uses basic attacks to pump out sustained damage to enemy champions with abilities that allow you to increase damage output. The marksmen champions usually take the role of ADC (known as Attack Damage Carry or Bot Lane).

Ashe

Marksmen are mostly easy champions to play with a handful of exceptions and Ashe is no different. Your passive slows the enemy champion up to 30% (60% on a crit) making it very hard for an enemy to escape. Your Ranger's Focus (Q) builds up stacks when you basic attack non-structures (it will retain stacks if you hit structures) and, at 4 stacks, the ability icon will change and you can then cast the spell to give you increased attack speed as well as each attack become a flurry of arrows on the champion you are basic attacking. Your Volley (W) is a good harass as well as it slows every enemy hit by an arrow allowing it to be used in the metal of a fight. Your Hawkshot (E) allows you to shoot a hawk across the map giving vision of everything beneath it. When it reaches the target location it explodes (no damage) and gives vision of the location for 5 seconds. This is best used when you don't know where the enemy is and you think you might be walking into a trap or to check if the enemy buff camps are alive. Your Enchanted Crystal Arrow is a great engage tool, as it stuns the enemy champion with increased duration based on the distance. Enemies beside the target hit will get slowed as well as taking half the damage the arrow normally does

Melee Support

I grouped all the melee support champions as there are just far too many variations to be listed, but the overall groups would be engage support and tank support (but they can be one and the same depending on your build).

Blitzcrank

Blitzcrank is an easy engage support that most anyone can play. All your abilities are focused around your Rocket Grab (Q) which shoots off your hand grabbing the first enemy or jungle camp it hits (enemy minions included). Whatever it hits is pulled back to Blitzcrank. You can then cast Power Fist (E) which gives your next basic attack a knock up as well as doubles the damage of the basic attack. While knocked up, cast Static Field (R) to do a huge AoE explosion of damage as well as silencing any nearby enemies. This ability also removes any shields the enemy champions may have. Your Overdrive (W) allows you to catch up to your opponent to hook them again or to start a fight by running to a new angle to hit a hook. Your passive Mana Barrier gives a shield when you drop to 30% health which is based on 30% of your max mana allowing you to stay alive longer when you hook someone that could easily kill you.

Braum

The Tank support known as Braum does help an ADC to engage but is best for protecting his team much like most tank supports do. Your Winter's Bite is good harass as it damages and slows the enemy hit by it, but it also lets you start your passive Concussive Blows (stuns the enemy once 4 stacks are reached through allied basic attacks after you have hit the enemy with anything) without having to be face to face with the enemy. Your ability Stand Behind Me (W) gives you and your ally bonus armor and magic resistance after dashing to them. Usually after Stand Behind Me, you cast Unbreakable (E) to block all damage (except turrets) from the direction you cast the ability in. The first hit is completely blocked while the rest is blocked by around 35%, but you take the damage from it, not the people behind you. Your Last Ability Glacial Fissure (R) is a good way to start a fight or to simply keep enemies from getting to close because you slam the ground with your shield creating a fissure in front of you that knocks up enemies and then slows anything in the area near the fissure for 4 seconds.

TLDR: Stand behind me and you will be safe... probably

Caster Support

Caster Supports usually hold enemies in place with roots and slows or protect their ADC through shielding and healing. They are AP heavy and a lot of the supports can also be played mid lane as a mage because the put out a lot of damage.

Morgana

Morgana is the best of both worlds because not only does she root for 3 seconds with Dark Binding (Q), she also can shield allies with Black Shield (E) that gives CC immunity. It also seconds as a magic damage shield, protecting you from AP casters. Because your Dark Binding lasts for so long, you normally cast Tormented Shadow (W) under the enemy as it is an AoE damaging spell that ticks every half second. It also does damage (up to 170%) that scales based on target missing health as well as triggering Soul Siphon (Passive) that heals for 20% of the damage you deal. To top it off, the cooldown is reduced every time the passive triggers meaning you can sometimes have multiple Tormented Shadows out at once. Your ultimate ability Soul Shackles (R) tethers you to all enemies in the area around you and after 3 seconds of being in that area, the enemy is stunned and revealed for the duration. This is best used in large team fights and combined with the item Zonyah's Hourglass which makes you stasised but keeps you tethered to enemies.

TLDR: You can't move, have fun

Soraka

You also have supports like Soraka who, instead of primarily holding people down like Morgana, focuses on healing. Soraka's primary ability is Astral Infusion (W), which heals the target ally champion at the cost of 10% of her health and some mana. Her Astral Infusion can also give health regen to the ally champion if Soroka has recently hit Starcall (Q), which damages the enemy champion and heals Soraka for 2.5 seconds. Starcall can also slow if the champion is hit in the center of the ability. Soraka's Equinox deals magic damage to enemies in an area as well as creates a zone that silences enemies standing in it, meaning they can't do anything other than move and basic attack. If a champion is in the zone after the zone has been there for 1.5 seconds, the enemies are rooted in place but the silence is gone. Soraka's last ability Wish (R) heals all ally champions regardless of where they are on the map. This heal is increased by 50% if the champion is below 40%. Soraka's passive Salvation helps her keep up with ally champions as they are trying to fight because when the ally drops beneath 40% health she gains 70% movement speed towards them.

TLDR: Heros never die... wait wrong game.

Odd Ones

What we are left with is the odd ones out. The champions that don't really fit anywhere. This is not to say they are bad in any way, it's just that they literally can't be classified because of how they work.

Heimerdinger is technically a control mage because he can hold areas of the map by himself, but nearly all of his damage comes from his Hextech Turrets (Q) making him not a mage, but also not really anything else as you aren't an ADC but nor are you a tank or assassin, yet he is one of the strongest Mid Laners because of the damage he can pump out if you walk close to him, so much so Junglers refuse to gank because they almost always lose the fight.

Azir is a mage that summons sad minions to dash at enemies and... you guessed it, basic attack. Because he technically does AP damage and only does things with his abilities he is a mage... but his damage comes from the summoned soldiers basic attacks so he is a Marksman.

You thought I'd leave out the Devil Incarnate Teemo, but he too fits into this group of oddballs. He is a marksman as almost all you do is basic attack and poison people with your E... but he does more AP damage with the abilities he has than with the basic attacks themselves, not to mention he throws toxic mushrooms everywhere that give ADCs nightmares as hitting one forces you to back or to fight with only 20% health left because why not punish people for something you can't see.

This leaves me with a final message to you. With this virus spreading around like wildfire; now is a perfect time to learn League of Legends as you keep yourself safe from infection as well as hopefully find a new way to entertain yourself. If you can't stay home and have to go work or get food, just be safe and wash your hands when you get back. We will get through this crisis together, all things come to an end and so too must this. I will see you on the Rift!